Finite and Infinite Games Part 6

Boundaries vs. Horizons

A boundary is a phenomenon of opposition. It is the meeting place of hostile forces. Where nothing opposes there can be no boundary. One cannot move beyond a boundary without being resisted.

This is why patriotism- that is, the desire to protect the power in a society by way of increasing the power of a society- is inherently belligerent. Since there can be no prizes without a society, no society without opponents, patriots must create enemies before we can require protection from them. Patriots can flourish only where boundaries are well-defined, hostile, and dangerous. The spirit of patriotism is therefore characteristically associated with the military or other modes of international conflict.

Because patriotism is the desire to contain all other finite games within itself- that is, to embrace all horizons within a single boundary – it is inherently evil.

A horizon is a phenomenon of vision. One cannot look at the horizon; it is simply the point beyond which we cannot see. There is nothing in the horizon itself, however, that limits vision, for the horizon opens onto all that lies beyond itself. What limits vision is rather the incompleteness of that vision.

One never reaches a horizon. It is not a line; it has no place; it encloses no field; its location is always relative to the view. To move toward a horizon is simply to have a new horizon. One can therefore never be close to one’s horizon, though one may certainly have a short range of vision, a narrow horizon.

We are never somewhere in relation to the horizon since the horizon moves with our vision. We can only be somewhere by turning away from the horizon, by replacing vision with opposition, by declaring the place on which we stand to be timeless – a sacred region , a holy land, a body of truth, a code of inviolable commandments. To be somewhere is to absolutize time, space, and number.

Every move an infinite player makes is toward the horizon. Every move made by a finite player is within a boundary. Every moment of an infinite game therefore presents a new vision, a new range of possibilities. The Renaissance, like all genuine cultural phenomena, was not an effort to promote one or another vision. It was an effort to find visions that promised still more vision.

Who lives horizonally is never somewhere, but always in passage.

Finite and Infinite Games Part 5

Culture

Deviancy, however is the very essence of culture. Whoever merely follows the script, merely repeating the past, is culturally impoverished.

There are variations in the quality of deviation; not all divergence from the past is culturally significant. Any attempt to vary from the past in such a way as to cut the past off, causing it to be forgotten, has little cultural importance. Greater significance attaches to those variations that bring the tradition into view in a new way, allowing the familiar to be seen as unfamiliar, as requiring a new appraisal of all that we have been – and therefore of all that we are.

Cultural deviation does not return us to the past, but continues what was begun and not finished in the past… Culture continues what Mozart and Rembrandt had themselves continued by the way of their work; an original, or deviant, shaping of the tradition they received, original enough that it does not invite duplication of itself by others, but invites the originality of others in response… culture does not have a tradition; it is a tradition.

The creativity of culture has no outcome, no conclusion. It does not result in art works, artifacts, products. Creativity is a continuity that engenders itself in others. ‘Artists do not create objects, but create by way of objects’ (Rank)

… Since art is never possession, and always possibility, nothing possessed can have the status of art… property draws attention to titles, points backward toward a finished time. Art is dramatic, opening always forward, beginning something that cannot be finished… Artistry can be found anywhere; indeed, it can only be found anywhere. One must be surprised by it. It cannot be looked for. We do not watch artists to see what they do, but watch what persons do and discover the artistry in it.

Culture is not therefore mere disorder. Infinite players never understand their culture as the composite of all that they choose individually to do, but as the congruence of all that they choose to do with each other. Because there is no congruence without the decision to have one, all cultural congruence is under constant revision… For this reason it can be said that where a society is defined by its boundaries, a culture is defined by its horizon.

More soon!

Finite and Infinite Games Part 4

Power, Strength, Evil

Let us say that where the finite player plays to be powerful the infinite player plays with strength…A powerful person is one who brings the past to an outcome, settling all its unresolved issues. A strong person is one who carries the past into the futures, showing that none of its issues is capable of resolution. Power is concerned with what has already happened; strength with what has yet to happen. Power is finite in amount. Strength cannot be measured, because it is an opening and not a closing act… power will always be restricted to a relatively small number of selected persons. Anyone can be strong… though infinite players are strong, they are not powerful and do not attempt to become powerful.

Evil is the termination of infinite play. It is infinite play coming to an end in unheard silence

Evil is not the acquisition of power, but the expression of power. It is the forced recognition of a title- and therein lies the contradiction of evil, for recognition cannot be forced. The Nazis did not compete with the Jews for a title, but demanded recognition of a title without competition. This could be achieved, however, only by silencing the Jews, only by hearing nothing form them. They were to die in silence, along with their culture, without anyone noticing, not even those who managed the institutions and instruments of death.

Finite and Infinite Games Part 3

Death vs. Life

A finite game must always be won with a terminal move, a final act within the boundaries of the game that establishes the winner beyond any possibility of challenge. A terminal move results, in other words, in the death of the opposing player as player…

death for a finite player need have nothing to do with the physical demise of the body; it is not a reference to a corporeal state. There are two ways in which death is commonly associated with the fate of the body: One can be dead in life, or one can be alive in death

Death in life is a mode of existence in which one has ceased all play; there is no future striving for titles. All competitive engagement with others has been abandoned. For some, though not for all, death in life is a misfortune, the resigned acceptance of a loser’s status, a refusal to hold any title up for recognition. For others, however, death in life can be regarded as an achievement, the result of a spiritual discipline, say, intended to extinguish all traces of struggle with the world, a liberation from the need for any title whatsoever. “Die before ye die,” declare the Sufi mystics.

Life in death concerns those who are titled and whose titles, since they are timeless, may not be extinguished by death. Immortality, in this case, is not a reward but the condition necessary to the possession of rewards. Victors live forever not because their souls are unaffected by death but because their titles must not be forgotten.

Soldiers commonly achieve a life in death. Soldiers fight not to stay alive but to save the nation. Those who do fight only to protect themselves are, in fact, considered guilty of the highest military crimes. Soldiers who die fighting the enemy, however, receive the nation’s highest reward: They are declared unforgettable Even unknown soldiers are memorialized- though their names have been lose, their titles will not be.

What winners of finite games achieve is not properly an afterlife but an afterworld, not continuing existence but continuing recognition of their titles.

Infinite players die. Since the boundaries of death are always part of the play, the infinite player does not die at the end of play, but in the course of play.

The death of an infinite player is dramatic. It does not mean that the game comes to an end with death; on the contrary, infinite players offer their death as a way of continuing the play. For that reason they do not play for their own life; they live for their own play. But since that play is always with others, it is evident that infinite players both live and die for the continuing life of others.

Death is a defeat in finite play. It is inflicted when one’s boundaries give way and one falls to an opponent. The finite player dies under the terminal move of another.

The finite play for life is serious; the infinite play of life is joyous. Infinite play resounds throughout with a kind of laughter. It is not a laughter at others who have come to an unexpected end, having thought they were going somewhere else. It is laughter with other with whom we have discovered that the end we thought we were coming to has unexpectedly opened. We laugh not at what has surprisingly come to be impossible for others, but over what has surprisingly come to be possible with others.

Finite and Infinite Games Part 2

Title

What one wins in a finite game is a title.

A title is the acknowledgment of others that one has been the winner of a particular game. Titles are public. They are for others to notice. I expect others to address me according to my titles, but I do not address myself with them- unless, of course, I address myself as an other. The effectiveness of a title depends on its visibility, its noticeability to others.

Some titles are inherited, though only when the bloodline or some other tangible connection with the original winner has been established, suggesting that the winners have continued to exist in their descendants. The heirs to titles are therefore obliged to display the appropriate emblems: a coat of arms or identifiable styles of speech, clothing, or behavior.

It is a principal function of society to validate titles and to assure their perpetual recognition.

Titles, then, point backward in time.

Infinite players look forward, not to a victory in which the past will achieve a timeless meaning, but toward ongoing play in which the past will require constant reinterpretation. Infinite players do not oppose the actions of others, but initiate actions of their own in such a way that others will respond by initiating their own.

The joyfulness of infinite play, its laughter, lies in learning to start something we cannot finish.

I don’t live this life for recognition, for a title. No, that only shows what I have done in the past. What I’m really concerned about is the future. I live this life to know that the future is better off because I forced the universe to move in that direction. Let me live for hope of the future, not remembrance of the past.

Finite and Infinite Games Part 1

1. There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other, infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.
2. If a finite game is to be won by someone, it must come to a definite end. It will come to an end when someone has won...

Finite Games are the familiar contests of everyday life, the games we play in business and politics, in the bedroom and on the battlefield- games with winners and losers, a beginning and an end. Infinite games are more mysterious- and ultimately more rewarding. They are unscripted and unpredictable; they are the source of true freedom.

The rules of the finite game may not change; the rules of an infinite game must change.
Finite players play within boundaries; infinite players play with boundaries.
Finite players are serious; infinite games are playful.
A finite player plays to be powerful; an infinite player plays with strength.
A finite player consumes time; an infinite player generates time.
The finite player aims for eternal life; the infinite player aims for eternal birth.

Watch The Throne

Just bought Watch The Throne, the new cd by Jay-Z & Kanye West. I've only listened to it once through, so opinions may change later. I think usually for Jay-Z, I need to listen to a song several times before I get a grasp on how I like it. But once through, here are my first impressions:
- this is one of the most disappointing albums I ever purchased, probably the most disappointing (doesn't mean it's the worst album)
- kanye is getting better. Ever since his first album hes been going down, here is my ranking of his work: 1) College Dropout, 2004 2) Late Registration, 2005 3) Graduation, 2007 4) Watch the Throne, 2011 5) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 2010 6) 808s & Heartbreak, 2008. With a huge huge gap between 4 and 5.
- Jay-Z is really cool. I thought Kanye could ruin the cd with autotune/ all the garbage music he's been making for the past couple years, but Jay-Z did his thing as king, Kanye as jester.
- I think the album favored Kanye, basically his music and they did a lot of back and forth rhyming where Kanye could just spit out random one line punchlines, his strength. But Jay-Z destroyed him in pretty much every aspect, he might be the second best rapper alive (Eminem is #1 in my mind)
-They worked well together, you could tell they both put time and effort into doing it.
- I've heard that Jay-Z never writes his rhymes, I wonder if he did with this because some of his stuff was going off what Kanye said, so I feel like some planning was needed.
-Favorite song - Otis    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoEKWtgJQAU&ob=av2e
-I like 3/16 songs on the album, this will probably change in time
- I was expecting 'harder' songs, I thought the beats could have been better. That being said, they both did a good job talking about how awesome they were, as usual.
-The last cd I bought - Distant Relatives, another collaboration with Nas and Damian Marley. I liked that one better than this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMGd3mAfl-0&ob=av3e

Muhammad Ali

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-5_8af3TiY&list=FLsaQ0A_fstPU&index=60

James P. Carse

I'm reading this book by James P. Carse, Finite and Infinite Games. It's a hard read, you can tell this guy has thought a lot about what he writes. He sounds incredibly smart, and writes that way, too. It's taken me a while just to get through a quarter of the book. His writing makes me think a lot. In a good way. Here is a blog post he had a couple years back.

    Serious believers are generally eager to supply you with a catalog of their dearest convictions. They do not just hold positions, they declare them. It is of great importance to them that you know their views. And they are usually presented in a way meant to convince you of their truth, as if your own are variant, if not plainly false. Notice that their beliefs look in two directions at once: every one of them is perfectly matched with a corresponding unbelief. They are as concerned with what they do not believe as with what they do. Belief, in other words, is always belief against. 

    Because beliefs are so well matched with their opposites, they not only focus on the resistance of others, they are dependent on it. When that opposition fades so does the passion with which one’s own belief is held. To be an atheist you will need to find just the right theist to face off against. How could one deny the existence of God unless someone supplies a God that can be denied? The odd consequence of this is that one cannot be a believer without simultaneously being an unbeliever. Believing is an inherently self-contradictory act.

    For this reason, belief can flourish only in situations of collision. And when belief flags, the only way to reanimate it is to provoke hostility in an other. It is a little like the fundamental insight of AA that alcoholics do not drink because circumstances caused it, but cause circumstances that provide an excuse to drink. Belief is a kind of narcotic. It is a state of being inebriated with certainty and reassured by a supporting company of friends—but possible only when an outward excuse can be created. Panslavism, to cite a typical belief system, has been wonderfully strengthened by the military intervention of Americans and western Europeans into the conflict over Kosovo—an issue Serbia worked hard to initiate. There is no thrill for patriots without a dangerous enemy to struggle against. If one doesn’t exist, make one. Iraq, for example?

    Notice that no mention has been made of religion. Contrary to popular thinking, religion has very little to do with belief. One could be a believer (a Marxist, a white supremacist, say) without being religious. One could be religious (see Buddhism) without being a believer. More on this in future blog posts.

Seven

From the movie Seven

John Doe

Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny? Look at the people I killed. An obese man, a disgusting man who could barely stand up... who if you saw him on the street, you'd point so your friends could mock him along with you. Who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn't be able to finish your meal. After him I picked the lawyer. And, you both must have been secretly thanking me for that one. This was a man who dedicated his life to making money by lying with every breath he could muster... to keeping rapists and murderers on the streets...

A woman... so ugly on the inside that she couldn't bare to go on living if she couldn't be beautiful on the outside. A drug dealer... a drug dealing pederast, actually. And, don't forget the disease spreading whore. Only in a world this shitty could you even try to say these were innocent people and keep a straight face.

That's the point. You see a deadly sin on almost every street corner, and in every home, literally. And we tolerate it. Because it's common, it seems trivial, and we tolerate, all day long, morning, noon, and night. Not anymore. I'm setting the example and it's going to be puzzled over and studied and followed, from now on.